Happily, there are a lot of different alternatives of the Remington 870 follower and I think that more will come in future. The information in this article is intended to explain the differences in what is on the market today.

Main advantages of the alternative followers are:
1. Tail of the follower which improves feeding and prevents spring from kinking. But tail takes some space in the magazine tube.
2. Projection on the head which allows to check an empty shotgun magazine by your finger.
3. Made of better material (metal or plastic).
4. Different color.

Attention: new Remington 870 shotguns have two “dimples” in magazine tube and followers without slots in the sides will not work with them. You will need to drill out the dimples or modify a follower.

There are many followers available on the market:
Remington
Scattergun Technologies
Choate
Vang Comp
Different steel followers (for example Brownells)
S&J Hardware

Let’s start with standard Remington follower

Remington Shotgun Follower

Standard follower is made of thin orange plastic. It is very thin and easily destructible. Several times I had problems loading shotgun which were possibly caused by this follower. They gone when I replaced it. It should be replaced with better one as soon as possible.

First alternative follower is Scattergun Technologies (Wilson Combat) Follower.

Scattergun Technologies Shotgun Follower

This follower is one of the most popular followers and can be easily found everywhere. There are a lot of positive comments about it. This is high- visibility, fluorescent green follower which has a tail which improves feeding and projection in the head which allows to check the magazine by your finger. It is made of ABS nylon and looks reliable. But there is weak point. The middle part (projection) of the follower is not solid and I was able to brake it loading a magazine (it stuck and I had to use force on it).

Next follower in this review is made by Choate

Choate Shotgun Follower

It is orange, made of plastic and has a very long tail. I didn’t have problems with it but I know shooters which had problem with it: follower is too big and diameter need to be reduced to slide freely in a magazine tube.

In my opinion the tail is too long and takes too much of a magazine tube space. Also it doesn’t allow you to check a magazine by your finger but it is made of highly visible orange plastic.

Another popular follower is made by Vang Comp Systems

Vang Comp Follower

This is steel follower with a hole in the front part. You can use hole to check the magazine by your finger. I didn’t have a chance to use it but readers of the blog shared their experience with me. It is very sturdy and virtually indestructible.

The only one known problem is use of the Vang Comp Follower with original Remington magazine extension. Shells can move follower to the groove inside the extension and it will stuck.

There are a lot of other aluminium/steel followers on the market, for example the one from Brownells

Aluminium Shotgun Follower

The follower on the photo is made by unknown manufacturer. You can purchase aluminium followers of many different colors. They are tough, reliable and I have used one for a very long time without any problems. Metal followers slide inside the magazine tube very easily.

They are less visible than acid green or orange followers and can’t be identified by touch but they are still a good choice for your tactical shotgun.

Attention: some people think that metal followers can damage mag tube but I don’t know any facts and don’t know any cases of the damage caused by metal followers.

The last follower in this review is made by S&J Hardware

SJ Hardware Follower

This shotgun follower is the best I have ever used. Let me start with advantages it gives to a shotgun owner:
1. Bright orange (close to red) color.
2. Tail which prevents spring from kinking and improves feeding.
3. Allows to check an empty shotgun magazine by your finger.
4. It has slots in the sides so it can be used in the Remington Express and other non-Police models (which have dimples in magazine tube).
5. Followers are CNC machined from 2″ thick piece of DuPont Delrin® material. Which is a type of teflon impregnated plastic. Delrin is hard enough to machine, soft enough for use and very slippy. So its ideal for a shotgun follower.

This follower is not hollow inside and doesn’t have weak points (like Scattergun follower). It will not break down with cleaning products and hard use. I was looking for a such follower for a very long time.

I highly recommend to use this follower and think that this follower is the best on the market.

This month I will have some very interesting articles and updated overview of the Remington 870 followers. If you have ideas about new articles or want to see overview of particular products please leave a comment or send me a message to info@rem870.com

Vitaly Pedchenko

You can see some videos here: IPSC Competition Video

Remington 870 Safety and Alternatives (Wilson Combat (Scattergun Technologies), S&J Hardware, Vang

Factory Remington 870 Safety

Remington 870 Factory Safety

Standard Remington 870 safety which works properly but too small to be quickly disengaged in stress (combat, self-defense, sport) situations. The only one safety which has a red stripe which is visible when safety is disengaged.

Wilson Combat (Scattergun Technologies) Jumbo Head Safety

Wilson Combat (Scattergun Technologies) Safety

My favorite safety which I have installed on my shotgun. Works great and can be easily disengaged. Also, it doesn’t stick out much. After more than 5 months of use you can see marks on it but there is no damage on the material of the safety button.

Also, this is the only one oversized safety which can be used with Knoxx recoil reducing stocks.

Vang Oversized Safety

Vang Oversized Safety

Vang Comp Systems is a good safety but there are several problems with it:
1. Material is too soft. After 2-3 months of use I saw that material of the safety button was damaged, there were deformations on it.
2. Sticks out too far.
3. Cannot be installed with Knoxx recoil reducing stocks.

S&J Hardware Jumbo Safety

S&J Hardware Jumbo Safety

This safety is great, I would be happy to use it if I could install it together with my Knoxx recoil reducing stock. But it looks like it cannot be used with it.

The shape of this safety button is great and it doesn’t stick up much. I think this is the best choice for a standard stocks.

Summary
In my opinion the best choice for a recoil reducing stock is Wilson Combat (Scattergun Technologies) safety.
The best choice for a standard stock is S&J Hardware safety.

Bianchi Patroltek Belt, Hatch Specialist Shooting Gloves, California Competition Works Speed Strippers

Bianchi Patroltek Belt
Very good belt which can be easily adjusted and also has very convenient Tri-Release polymer buckle.

Hatch Specialist Shooting Gloves
I was afraid that they will not allows fast reload of a shotgun but they are so good that you feel them just like your second skin, very convenient and breathing. Be sure to order gloves of your size.

California Competition Works Speed Strippers
Very good equipment which allows faster reload.

“I purchased it from barnesgunparts.com for $25.00 shipped. It looks cheaply made at first but after a closer look you can see that it is actually very well made and assembled by hand. I have seen different forend wrenches for about the same price and twice as much but poorly designed. Brownells forend wrench is what I originally wanted because of the design but this one is very similar and half the price.

Remington 870 Forend Wrench

http://store.barnesgunparts.com/index.html”

J.R., thank you very much for sharing information about Remington 870 Forend Wrench with us!

But I have made my own list of parts to have for an emergency repair:
TRIGGER PLATE PIN DETENT SPRING
TGR PLATE PIN DETENT SPRING REA
EXTRACTOR PLUNGER
EXTRACTOR SPRING
EXTRACTOR, 12/16/20, NON-MIM
FIRING PIN RETRACTOR SPRING
FIRING PIN
FIRING PIN RETAINING PIN
EJECTOR SPRING

Update:
+SEAR SPRING

But I hope that I will never need those parts and my Rem 870 will work without any problems for years!

The most popular ghost ring sights are made by Vang Comp Systems and Scattergun. But they have several disadvantages:
1. Rear sight can be installed only on receiver and requires drilling and tapping.
2. Front sight requires difficult installation too.
3. Rear sight is too close to the eye.
4. The price of set is very high: $160-200

Remington Ghost Ring Firesight Set
The only sights which can be installed on the place of standard sights are Remington Ghost Ring Firesight Set from Williams Gun Sight Company, Inc. One of the other advantages of this sights is that they have light gathering elements (fiber optic dots) which make them even easier to use. The price of this set is $32.

Williams Gun Sight Remington

Installation
Installation is very easy and takes just 15 minutes. You will need just small screwdriver to install the rear sight and a hammer to install the front sight.

Remington Ghost Ring Firesight Set

Zeroing
After installation of you will need to adjust sights.

This month I plan to have a lot of new posts. My new digital camera will be delivered today and I will be able to post a lot of new and interesting materials.

If you have interesting information or photos please send them to me: info@rem870.com